Audition Workshop Set for Westfield Summer Stage

Westfield Summer Stage celebrates 12 years of summer musicals with the classic musical comedy, "Anything Goes," to be performed in late July at Westfield High. Auditions will begin in a few weeks, so an audition workshop for prospective cast members will be held Monday, April 30, at 6:30 p.m., where material for the vocal and dance auditions will be taught.

Auditions are May 5, from 9 a.m.-4 p.m.; callbacks are May 6, from noon-2 p.m. Rehearsals begin June 20; most are on weekday evenings until the performances. All activities are at Westfield, 4700 Stonecroft Blvd. in Chantilly.

"‘Anything Goes’ is a saucy and splendid production of Cole Porter’s musical romp across the Atlantic," said Director Lori Knickerbocker. "When the ‘S.S. American’ heads out to sea, etiquette and convention head out the portholes, as two unlikely pairs set off on the course to true love."

She said the audience ultimately learns that, "Sometimes, destiny needs a little help from a crew of singing sailors, an exotic disguise and some good old-fashioned blackmail."

Stowaway Billy Crocker is out to win back his true love, Hope Harcourt, from Lord Evelyn Oakleigh, with the help of a singer-turned-evangelist, plus a gangster and his girlfriend. Along for the ride are a minister and his shady converts, a hapless captain and a harried purser.

Meanwhile, performed throughout the show will be some of musical theater’s most memorable standards, including "You're the Top," "Blow, Gabriel, Blow," "It’s De-Lovely," "I Get A Kick Out of You" and "Anything Goes."

Auditions for this show are open to Northern Virginia teen actors, singers and dancers in rising grades 7-12, plus 2012 high-school graduates. All roles are open. Approximately 45 actors will be cast. Yvonne Henry is the choreographer; Charlie Manship, musical director; and Carol Jones, vocal director. The workshop fee is $300; some scholarships are available.

Westfield Summer Stage is a theater arts workshop founded in 2001 by the Westfield Theatre Boosters. It offers teen actors, technicians and musicians a musical-theater experience during a five-week summer camp culminating in a main-stage production.